Whether or not a life has value depends on who values that life. If a person values his own life, then it is valuable and if a person does not value his own life, but others around him do, then his life still has value. Something that can be lost will always have worth, even including life, considering that it is something that can be taken away and be inexistent at some point. Usually, a person recognizes the value of his or her life when his own life or the life of someone close to him is in danger of being lost. In society, people, as well as myself, take many things for granted. If we are in possession of something such as a house, food, a bed, a shower, family, and friendship and we are accustomed to it being around, we take it for granted and do not realize that these objects and ideas may not exist at some point. The same idea applies to life. We get used to living life and we take for granted the time that we have to live it. Sometimes we even complain about life and how it is hard to live. We may not realize the value of our house until it is about to be taken away from us and we may not value a friendship until it is dying or gone forever. We may not realize the value of life until it is in danger or gone.
Yesterday, my brother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Just thinking about it now, it is so hard for me to understand why his life is threatened at such a young age. It is even difficult for me to fully realize that he has cancer since I saw him a little over a week ago and he seemed so healthy and happy and loving life at college. His life definitely has value. I can tell that it does just because of the way my family and I feel knowing that his life is in danger. Luckily, thyroid cancer is the most curable cancer and I am confident that he will be fine in the end. But it is still scary knowing that life can be completely affected at any time, or at any age. 18 is too young of an age to die at. At this age, most people have not experienced life, accomplished goals they have set for themselves, or simply appreciated life as it is. Mostly, we have been in school our entire lives, and who wants to do that? School is just preparation for life after we graduate, which is when I believe we do the most worthwhile living.
There are certain things that I want to accomplish that will make my life worthwhile. Right now, I am very interested in biomolecular engineering. By the time I die, I would like to make an advance in current technologies in a way that would benefit people with medical problems. I would like to eventually cure something that is presently incurable, whether it is a type of cancer, disease, or genetic disorder. This would make my life worthwhile because I would be helping others live their lives either longer or at a better quality without physical or healthy-related problems. I think that improving the lives of others should be part of everyone’s life. Advances in medicine and technology have always been a part of humanity. Humans have always tried to prolong life and increase the physical wellbeing of other humans, whether it is because of curiosity or true belief in the value of life. Life becomes valuable and worthwhile when one has improved the quality of life of another person.
By the time I die, I would also like to have children. I personally love taking care of children and I think I would be a great mother, so having kids would definitely make my life worthwhile. I think that giving life to someone else enriches the value of one’s own life. Generativity is very important to humanity, considering that without creating new life, humanity would cease to exist. I would also like to live in another country for at least a year. I want to fully immerse myself in another culture, not just as a tourist on a vacation, but as an actually member of that society and culture. By experiencing more than one culture and way of life, we can gain perspective and knowledge and enrich the value of life. Such multiculturalism would benefit humanity because being cultured and understanding more than one perspective of life is important for acceptance, awareness, and open-mindedness towards other people and parts of the world.
Another goal I want to achieve before I die it to be genuinely happy—simply happy and satisfied with my life. I would like to be happy with my job, friends, family, and general situation in life. But to do so, I have to stop worrying about the negative aspects of life, which are usually not as significant compared to the good things in life. In contrast, I should become more aware of things that are important in life. I think that the purpose of life should be to recognize the value of life and all positive aspects within it. It would be valuable for humanity to reach this mindset because more people would appreciate and be content with their lives as a result. Too many people are unsatisfied with their lives, take things for granted, and never recognize their good fortune when their lives could actually improve just by changing their attitude. Over all, people would begin to better understand the value of their lives.
The last thing I want to accomplish before I die is to make others feel happy, wanted, and loved. I do not think that it is enough to feel happy or content yourself but I think it is a part of life to make others feel cared for as well. With each new addition of a friendship or relationship the value and worth of my life increases. As I mentioned earlier, it is part of humanity for a person to try to improve the quality of life of himself and those around him. We try to make a positive impact on others so that maybe their value of life or those in the future will be even greater than our own. Without this sense of impact, there would be almost no meaning of life. Over all, the lives of most people are spent trying to improve their conditions in life or those of other people. Without this purpose, the meaning of life would be limited.
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